An Eye for An Eye
by BollyKnickers
Summary: slightly AU . Danny and Lindsay were forced to sort things out in their relationship, and two years later everything is ripped apart when their daughter goes missing. D/L, Flack/Angell. Maybe some M/S later.
1. Chapter 1

Lindsay was exhausted

**An Eye for An Eye**

**A/N: **I really wanted to stay away from marriage/baby fics but then this came into my head and I couldn't get rid of it. I apologize that I'm sure this sort of idea has been done many times, but hopefully I'm adding my own kind of twist (especially towards the end, if you can be bothered to stay reading for that long!!). I haven't seen the whole of s4 (I've seen up to episode 15) so there might be some discrepancies with the story, but ultimately this is an AU anyway, since they have a kid and all. Spoilers for everything up to the end of S4 I suppose! Please do review; I like comments, good and bad, and I pretty much wanna know if I should bother continuing!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything or anyone, apart from Katy who was a figment of my own imagination.

-

Lindsay was exhausted. She hadn't told Danny, but throughout the day she'd felt like someone was following her; the constant feeling of eyes on her, the way that another car always seemed to pull out of the parking lot at the same time as hers did. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she didn't think so. After all, it wasn't often that someone as observant as Lindsay got something like that wrong. It had kept her awake, as her mind ran over the possible reasons why someone would be following _her_ of all people. She didn't want to tell Danny because she feared the outcome – either he'd tell her she was being silly, or he'd get all overprotective of her and stop her from going into work. Either way, it didn't sound like a good idea.

So now, having given up on trying to rest, she was sitting in their daughter's bedroom, watching the two year old sleep. Whenever something like this rattled her cage, Lindsay would go into Katy's room, thankful for her calming influence. It was difficult to watch someone sleeping so peacefully and not be calmed. It always made her feel just the tiniest bit dizzy when she watched the little girl – something she and Danny had created together, with his dirty-blonde hair, her eyes – but that soon turned into absolute pride.

They hadn't planned for any of it. After what happened with Rikki, she was sure she'd never be able to trust Danny again. The relationship had crumbled to pieces and Lindsay had even considered applying for a transfer, finding herself unable to bear being in the same room as him. That was when she realized something was wrong. Not between her and Danny – she'd realized that long ago – but within herself. Her worst fear was realized when she missed her period. She was pregnant. Of course, she'd had to tell Danny; it was wrong not to, but she couldn't do it right away. But she was soon beginning to show, and it was becoming harder and harder to cover it up, so once she'd gathered the strength inside her, she went to confront him.

_Lindsay took a deep breath, running a tired hand through her bobbed hair and adjusting her clothes. _It's just Danny_, she reminded herself, letting out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. Checking herself in the glass of Mac's (empty) office one last time, she made her way to the break room, where she knew Danny would be. She could picture him now, the sports section of the newspaper spread out on his lap, a cold soda in one hand. A soft smile came to her lips, but she stopped it. _He hurt you Linds, you have to remember that. This baby… it doesn't mean anything. He still hurt you. _She nodded to herself, pushing open the door and closing it quietly behind her. Thankfully, Danny was alone._

"_Danny, can I have a word?"_

_He looked up from his newspaper, folded it carefully and placed it on the floor, "sure. What's up Montana?"_

_He hadn't called her that in weeks. Probably frightened that she'd yell at him for it, or worse. _No, you've just not been talking for weeks,_ she reasoned with herself, trying to keep down the smile that kept threatening to erupt from her lips. This had been difficult enough for her, but she hadn't thought about what feelings this conversation would bring out. She still hurt from the last time he'd cheated on her; she wasn't _supposed_ to feel anything for him but hatred._

"_I… I don't really know how to say this," she started, purposely looking at the clock behind Danny's head to avoid his eyes._

_His eyes, which were glistening with hope, but laced with worry. For weeks now, he'd been fearing that she would apply for a transfer, or go back to Montana. He knew what he'd done was stupid, but he'd been grieving. Part of him had hoped she would understand that, but most of him realized that it was a stupid thing to ask of her._

"_Listen, Linds, before you say it… I… I am sorry," he said, trying to meet her eye, "I know I hurt you. I want us to be friends. The past few weeks have been hell! I miss you, I miss teasing you, and calling you names and the way your eyes light up when you discover something really important, and your smile and…"_

"_I'm pregnant," Lindsay interrupted, her tone flat and emotionless._

"_You--what?"_

_She sighed, "I'm pregnant."_

"_But… it can't… it can't be mine. I've not so much as _spoken_ to you in weeks. Why are you telling me this Linds? Rub it in my face that I had a chance with you but I blew it?" he asked, bitterly, a spark of anger in his ocean blue eyes._

"_No. I…I've known for a while. It's yours, Danny, I know it is," 'and what the hell makes you think I've slept with anyone else?!' she felt like adding, but didn't._

"_Right," he muttered, letting out a deep breath, "so… what now?"_

"_I don't know," Lindsay replied honestly, shaking her head. _

"_Does anyone else know?"_

_Lindsay nodded, "Stella. She noticed a few days ago… it was her that persuaded me to come and tell you. I was so scared that you'd be mad or…" she trailed off, tears glistening at her eyes._

"_I could never be mad at you," Danny said, his voice soft. He reached across the table that she'd now sat at, and took her hands in his. _

_She flinched._

"_If you want this baby…I… I want to help you. Financially… I mean. I don't mind."_

_Lindsay blinked, "Danny. I don't want your money. I… I want..."_

"_What? What do you want?" he whispered, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb._

"_You," she said, only just loud enough for him to hear._

She didn't know what exactly it was that had made her trust him again, what had made her forgive him, but she did know that she was glad she had. They had the perfect little family now. They weren't married, or even engaged, which her father of course frowned upon, but she didn't need a wedding band to tell her that she loved Danny. They'd had to move apartment, needing somewhere with another bedroom for Katy, and had ended up moving closer to Danny's parents. Whilst they were both still working, Mac was sensitive towards their needs and made sure that if they had to be called out in the middle of the night, one of them could stay home with their daughter, and whilst they were at work during the day, Danny's parents took care of her. It was in no way flawless, but it worked and they both agreed that if it disrupted Katy or she showed any signs of being distressed from being passed on from person to person, they'd quit. If not both of them, then one of them at least, or they'd switch so that one of them did the day shift and the other the night shift.

Lindsay gazed down at her daughter and felt a wave of calm wash over her. Pressing a kiss to Katy's forehead, she left the room, closed the door quietly behind her, and got back into bed, wrapping her arms round Danny's sleeping form.

-

Lindsay woke to find herself alone in her bed. She blinked sleepily and sat up to look at the clock. 7:23. Rubbing her eyes, she started to get out of bed, but was interrupted by Danny re-entering the room and placing a tray on her lap. On the tray was a plate of pancakes, a mug of steaming coffee and a small vase with a single daisy in it. She smiled, lifting her head to kiss him.

"What's this for?" she asked, as he sat down next to her on the bed.

"I have to have a reason to bring the mother of my kid breakfast in bed?"

Lindsay grinned, "well, no. Thank you, it's very sweet. Speaking of Katy, is she still asleep?"

"Yeah, must have slept through the night," Danny broke a piece of pancake off the pile with the fork off the tray and fed it to Lindsay, who licked her lips appreciatively.

Katy had been disturbed during sleep three nights in a row that week, so it was good to hear she was sleeping better. She had a bit of a rash and they'd feared chicken pox, but it seemed to have cleared up whatever it was.

"We should probably get her up. We're dropping her off at 8.30," she yawned, sipping from her mug of coffee.

"Hey, hey, finish your breakfast. I'll sort Katy out."

She smiled, kissing him gently on the lips, "thank you. I don't know what I've done to deserve you y'know,"

Danny poked her nose, kissed her one last time, and then left the room to head into their daughter's bedroom. Lindsay was halfway through her second pancake when she heard Danny calling Katy's name, and then realized something was wrong. The tray was tossed to the floor, landing with the plate of pancakes all over the carpet, the mug of coffee upside down, but she didn't even notice.

Once she was inside Katy's room, Lindsay froze, looking at the empty bed where she'd seen her daughter sleeping, just three hours earlier. The window was wide open – which she was sure she'd not left that way – and Katy's teddy was on the floor, squashed slightly, with a dirty shoeprint across its stomach. There was a tiny spot of blood on the curtain.

Danny was standing by the window, tears lingering behind his glasses; he turned to look at Lindsay and shook his head.

"She's not here. She's…she's not here."

Tears flooded off her cheeks, and she sank to the floor where she'd been standing. Danny knelt next to her, tears steadily running down his own face as he tried to come to terms with what this all meant.

"Danny? Where is she Danny?! Where's our baby?!" she sobbed, as his arms wrapped round her protectively.

"I…I don't know," he whispered, wishing more than anything that he could answer her question.

-

_Lindsay sat up in bed, her body aching even with the amount of drugs they were pumping into her, her hair stuck to her forehead. Next to the bed, a tiny, pink face slept, wrapped in a pink baby-grow, white hat, and pink blanket, concealing the baby's whole body apart from its face. Danny had pulled an armchair up to the bed, but had fallen asleep waiting for Lindsay to wake up. She sighed contentedly, looking at her two sleeping angels, and realizing she loved both of them more than she thought it was possible to love anything. _

_The baby slowly awoke and its cries interrupted the silence, waking Danny, who quickly sat bolt upright, grabbed his glasses from where they'd fallen in his lap, and picked up the screaming baby. He rocked her back to sleep, and then placed her gently in Lindsay's arms. Lindsay looked down at the peaceful face of her daughter and felt the tears well up in her eyes all over again. _

-

A black SUV pulled up outside the apartment block as Danny watched out of the window. Lindsay was sitting in the rocking chair in Katy's room, one of her daughter's toys – a floppy pink rabbit that had been in the toy chest on the other side of the room - clutched in her hands, her face blank. The tears had dried, but she found herself in shock, unable to move. She'd always promised herself that if something like this happened, she wouldn't go into complete shut down mode. Not again. But it was exactly what was happening, and she couldn't stop it.

Danny heard the buzzer and went over to the door, forcing himself to take his eyes off Lindsay. He sniffed, wiped his eyes, and then opened the door to Stella Bonasera, Sheldon Hawkes and Adam Ross. Stella looked almost as in shock as Lindsay did, and quickly went over to the younger brunette, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Are you okay kiddo?" she said softly, as Lindsay began to cry again.

"No. No of course I'm not. I want my baby girl," Lindsay sobbed, "oh god. I'm so sorry. I… I promised myself I wouldn't. God. Why is this happening? Why us?"

Stella smiled weakly, "I know, I know. It's okay. We're going to find out who did this. We'll get Katy back."

"What time did you last see Katy?" Hawkes asked, as he had had already started snapping photographs of the scene, Adam bagging the bear from the floor.

"We…I tucked her in at 7. Lindsay had taken her shopping with her, she was exhausted, but I wanted to see her when I got in."

Lindsay shook her head, "I went in to check on her… at like… I don't know… four-ish. I couldn't sleep… I… I know I didn't leave that window open. I'd never leave a window open like that."

"Kidnapper could have gotten in through that window…" Adam mused, "doubtful unless they were a good drainpipe climber though. This is the 7th floor. You'd need some serious skills to shimmy up that."

"The door wasn't broken into," Stella said, rubbing her temple, "the window is our only access point, unless they had a key."

"We're the only people with keys to the apartment," said Lindsay, standing now, with Danny's arm round her waist.

"Well us, and my mom," Danny corrected her, "she sometimes brings Katy back here for toys, sometimes puts her to bed if we're working a late one."

Sheldon opened the window wider and peered out. With a gloved hand, he reached outside, "Adam, can you pass me some forceps?"

He did as he was told, and Hawkes was quiet a moment, leaning out of the window, before bringing in what he'd found.

"Looks like a piece of rope torn off to me," he said, bagging the fibre, "we'll know for sure when we get it to the lab, but if that is the case, perhaps the kidnapper climbed up here?"

Stella nodded, "maybe. I think we need to take a closer look at that outside wall, don't you?

-

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This chapter's a bit shorter, but I like to write while the idea is still fresh in my head

**A/N: **This chapter's a bit shorter, but I like to write while the idea is still fresh in my head. This won't be as long as some of my other fics (not that I've posted any NY ones before!) and I already have the end mapped. I hope Lindsay isn't too OOC but I conferred with a friend, who has a child, and they assured me that rational people do irrational things when it comes down to their children. Also, I know nothing about Danny's parents (I probably erased any information I did know about them from my mind knowing me) so I hope they're ok. Thanks for reading. Again I have no beta (apart from the aforementioned friend, who I tested ideas on but she only read the odd sentences) so any mistakes are my own. Please take into consideration that I'm British, so I apologize if I got any Americanisms wrong or anything.

**Disclaimer: **Guess what? Still don't own anything or anyone in CSI. Apart from Katy. She's from my own imagination.

-

It was scary being on the other side of a crime like this, Danny decided. Realizing, with some reluctance, that they were of no use lingering around the apartment, Danny had taken a silently sobbing Lindsay over to his parents' house. That felt weird too; they only ever went to his mom's to drop off Katy. The empty booster-seat in the back was a constant reminder that a big part – if not the biggest part – of them was missing. As they parked up outside the house, Danny clambered out of the car and walked towards the front door. He realized Lindsay was not with him, and turned to find her standing outside the car, staring at the back seat.

"Linds?" he said softly, placing a hand gently in the crook of her elbow, wrapping fingers delicately round so that the tips touched. She didn't move, frozen solid.

Danny had never seen Lindsay like this. They'd gone through some pretty deep things together - the trial in Montana, everything with him and Rikki, and he'd lost count of the times they'd almost lost each other on particularly risky days at work– but this was different. It was as if she wasn't even Lindsay anymore. And he understood. To some extent, he understood, he just wished he understood _more_. Being a CSI was a risky job, but that meant they were prepared for that risk. They knew they could die doing the job. It was something they had to accept. But their children, that was a different matter. _No, don't think about that. Katy's not dead, she's fine. Someone's taking care of her. _He sighed, trying to pull himself together, as much for Lindsay's sake as his own.

"I don't want to leave her," Lindsay whispered.

Before they'd left, Hawkes had given Lindsay some weak sedatives to calm her down. After the spot of blood on the curtain had been confirmed as being human, she'd started screaming and nobody could calm her down. It took something like this to turn a rational woman irrational, Danny understood that now. The sedatives were supposed to put her to sleep, but they didn't seem to have kicked in fully yet. But she definitely wasn't herself.

"She's not in there sweetie," Danny whispered, pulling her towards him and wrapping his arms around her. She stayed perfectly still, until he carefully took her inside.

Once in the house, Lindsay lay down on the sofa and was soon fast asleep, tears drying on her pale cheeks, glistening in the low lighting of the living room.

"She's not holding up too well huh?" Danny's mom asked, stroking Lindsay's hair absentmindedly.

"No… and I… I don't even know what I can do or say to make everything okay. Because everything isn't okay. Our daughter is out there somewhere and we're… we're useless. We can't find her. We don't even know where to begin and they won't let us help and--!"

"You know better than anyone else that your daughter's disappearance is in safe hands. The best hands. Stella, Mac… your colleagues. They'll find her," she whispered, squeezing her son's hand encouragingly.

"I know. I know. But… mom… what if they don't? What if… what if there's no Katy left to be found?" he looked up into his mom's eyes, tears clouding his glasses, "I keep closing my eyes, and I see her lying on the floor, limp. Dead. What if she's dead?"

"Do you think talk like that is going to help anybody? Least of all Lindsay," Mrs. Messer hissed, feeling Lindsay stir lightly under her touch.

"I'm scared," he whispered, and for the first time in 20-odd years, his eyes swam with the genuine fear of a child.

"I know."

-

Stella had tested and retested all the evidence. It was only day one – good, because the child hadn't been missing for 24 hours yet, but bad because they'd already exhausted every lead they had so far. Flack was looking into some people who might have a grudge against either Lindsay or Danny, but with the number of convictions each of them, or both of them, had made testimony on, he was looking at lists as long as his arm, if not longer. And the science was turning up empty. Apart from the fact that it was in fact from a piece of rope, the fibre was no use. It had no DNA trace on it, and was too small for fingerprints. The window was clean too, and apart from identifying the size shoe of the person who had stepped on the teddy – a size 12 – they were no closer to finding their kidnapper.

What also worried her was that there hadn't been any calls about ransom. If it was a kidnapper, there would have been by now. 13 hours had passed.

"Got anything?" Hawkes asked, entering the break room to find Stella with her head resting on the table, a mug of coffee steaming beside her head.

"Nope. You?"

"That kind of rope is sold in just about every camping and hardware store in New York, as well as every other state, and probably most other countries as well. In short, I have nothing."

Stella sighed, "Well, we must be missing something. We have tread scuffs on the wall outside the window, so that confirms our route of entry. The CCTV is conveniently broken… do you think we're looking for someone who knew this apartment block well? Well enough to know that the CCTV didn't work, that Danny and Lindsay kept Katy in that particular room, and…"

"I don't know Stell, I just don't know," Hawkes shook his head, rubbing at his eyes, "what I do know is that window had to be slightly open. There's no signs of our snatcher breaking it, and it can only be opened from inside. So someone must have left it slightly open,"

"How about we keep that piece of information to ourselves huh? Lindsay's already feeling bad enough about all of this,"

He nodded, "Yeah. I've never seen her like that. I don't think I've seen_ anyone_ like that,"

"With all that girl's been through, I'm thinking this is the final straw," Stella said, sadly.

Lindsay had been so strong up until now. But even a blind man could see how in love with Danny she was, and how much both of them adored their little girl.

Stella's cell rang, interrupting her thoughts, and she picked it up, "Bonasera."

"_Stella, it's Adam. Danny left Lindsay at his parents' place… 10 minutes after he got back, the phone rang… I think it's our snatcher. We've got a trace."_

Adam passed on the address, and Stella scribbled it down before hanging up and turning to Hawkes with a frown.

"We've got an address."

"Okay… why don't you look pleased?"

Stella sighed again, "it's a hotel payphone."

"Oh."

TBC.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Another relatively short chapter

**A/N: **Another relatively short chapter. Thanks to everyone who has been following this, and for the reviews I received! I hope I won't be leaving you in the lurch for too long!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI and I'm not making any money off this. Unfortunately. If I owned CSI, Danny and Lindsay would be back together, duh.

-

"Well sure, our guests use that payphone. We supply phone cards when they book a room. Used to have in-room phones but it got too expensive. Only guests can use the payphone," Milo Hannigan, son of the owner of Hannigan's Motel told Detective Flack, barely lifting his face from the newspaper stretched out in front of him.

"But did you happen to see any specific guest using it at around noon today?" asked Stella, her voice urgent and impatient. She knew the answer before she even asked.

"No. I don't keep track of their every move. It's boring enough in this little office. I have to entertain myself with comics and newspapers. I ain't exactly gonna sit here watchin' them go about their business am I? But it would probably have been someone in block G. Each block has their own payphone."

Stella rolled her eyes in Flack's direction, who merely shrugged and turned back to the kid at the desk.

"We're gonna need to talk to some of your guests."

Milo nodded, "go right ahead."

As they were about to leave, Stella turned once more to the guy and thought for a second. She pulled the photograph of Katy that Danny had given her out of her pocket and showed it to Milo.

"Pretty kid. I ain't seen her around though. Why?"

"She's missing," Stella informed him.

They headed over to the row of four rooms closest to the payphone first. Flack knocked on the door, got no answer, and it was quickly interrupted by the occupant of the room next door.

"Ben went out," the woman, who had shoulder-length blonde hair, big brown eyes, and was dressed casually in a white vest-top and dark slacks, opened her door wider, "can I help you?"

"NYPD, Detective Flack and this is Detective Bonasera from the New York Crime Lab. May I ask who you are?" he replied, showing her his badge.

"Karen Risso. You'd better come in."

As they entered the small room, Stella took a quick look around. It was a cheap motel, and the walls were a faded pink color, the bed a single one, with a wrinkled up thin duvet half hanging off. The rest of the room was much tidier. On the bedside table was a photograph of the room's occupant with a little girl who looked very similar to Katy. Stella picked the frame up and smiled.

"Is this your daughter Ms Risso?"

The blonde nodded, "yeah. Madison. She… she passed away."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Stella said softly, placing the photograph back on the table, "do you mind me asking what happened?"

"It's okay. She had a terminal illness. She was almost 2 when she got sick, my husband and I thought it was just a cold. We took her to a doctor when it didn't get any better and they ran tests and didn't know what it was. It turned out to be a genetic illness she'd inherited from me. I was adopted, and I guess the disease skipped my generation. She died about a year and a half later. Nearly six months ago now."

There was a bag at the end of the bed and Stella couldn't help but glance at it. Inside, was a heavy length of twisted rope, as well as some other climbing equipment.

Stella glanced at Flack, who nodded briefly.

"Would you mind coming down to the station for a bit Ms. Risso?" he asked.

She looked confused, "uh… sure… why? Am I under arrest? I've… I've not done anything. I don't even know what you're investigating. Whatever my husband has told you, it's not true."

"Your husband?"

"Yeah. After Maddie… he started drinking. I moved out. He's been trying to get at me ever since. Phone calls… that kinda thing," she sighed, "I'm not under arrest right?"

"No. We just wanna ask you some further questions," Flack assured her, as they left and went towards the car.

"And I'm going to need to take this bag to the lab," Stella added, slipping some gloves on and picking up the large rucksack.

"Okay."

-

When Lindsay woke, she found herself on a sofa. She sat up, rubbing her neck to try and get the kinks out and yawned. She recognised the room as Danny's parents' lounge. Sure enough, his mom was sitting in the arm chair opposite her, flicking through a magazine.

"Where's Danny?"

Lindsay's voice startled Mrs Messer who quickly closed up the magazine and put it gently on the table.

"Do you remember what happened?" she said carefully.

Lindsay swallowed, "yes. Katy. Oh god. Katy's gone and I've been sleeping," she quickly kicked the blanket off of her and stood up from the couch, "why didn't someone wake me?"

"Dr. Hawkes gave you sedatives to calm you down dear."

Lindsay wasn't listening, already dialling Danny's number on her cell. When he didn't pick up, she dialled Stella's. And sure enough, her friend picked up.

"_Bonasera," _a voice said on the other end of the line.

"Stell? What's going on? Where are we on the case?"

"_Lindsay, you know you can't be involved, and it's not just a case. I'll let you know if we have anything. The best thing you can do is stay calm."_

"Calm?! Stella, my baby girl is missing. How am I supposed to stay calm?!" she took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you."

"_Look kiddo, I know you're scared. You have every right to be. But we're doing everything we can. We do need to ask you some more questions though, so if you can get to the lab…"_

She nodded, "I'll be there," and hung up her phone, quickly sliding her shoes on and grabbing her jacket from where Danny had hung it.

-

Danny was waiting in the break room when Lindsay arrived. Mac had decided it was better if they spoke to them in there; that way they were away from the evidence and were physically distanced from the case. The interview rooms seemed too formal. The break room was perfect.

Picking at the table cloth, Danny let out a sigh. The whole situation brought back too many memories of everything that had happened with Ruben. It didn't matter how many times people told him it wasn't his fault; he was always going to believe it was. It was the same with Katy. He kept running different scenarios through his head. What if he'd been up earlier and checked on her? What if they'd moved her to her own room a few months later than they had? What if he'd done the responsible thing and moved them into a house instead of that flat? Part of him knew he was being stupid; irrational, but it didn't stop the thoughts from flooding his brain. He knew Lindsay was feeling exactly the same way.

The door opened, and Lindsay came in, her face pale, dark circles under her eyes. She forced a weak smile in his direction, before pulling a chair right up close to his and sitting down. She collapsed into his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. He pulled her closer, taking in the smell of her hair, wrapping his arms tighter around her, afraid of what would happen if he let go.

"I'm so scared," Lindsay whispered, "how did we get here Danny? How did any of this happen?"

"I don't know, I wish I knew," he murmured back, right before the door opened again, and Mac and Stella entered the room.

"How you two holding up?" Mac asked, his usual cold stare softened, as he sat down opposite the couple.

"Do I have to answer that?" the pain was clear in Danny's blue eyes as he took his glasses off, cleaned them on his shirt, and put them back.

"No of course not. Silly question."

Lindsay looked Stella in the eye, "we want to know what's going on. Do you have any leads?"

"We can't tell you very much, but we do have one lead at the moment that we're following up. We'll let you know when we have more. There are still some questions we need to ask."

"Okay," Lindsay said, resigned to the fact that they weren't going to get anything else out of Stella.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: thanks for the reviews and adding to story alert etc

**A/N: **thanks for the reviews and adding to story alert etc. It's you guys that make me update so fast, and I love you for it! Hope this next bit doesn't disappoint! Also, the 'commuter-walking' is something me and my friend and her dad go on about all the time, so I hope it makes sense in this context!

**Disclaimer: **guess what? Still don't own them.

-

The conversation had gone on for nearly an hour, and after a while Lindsay was beginning to feel nauseous and asked if she could be excused. Outside, it was pouring with rain, but she continued to walk, reminiscing on a phone call to Danny, where the weather hadn't been dissimilar to this. Rain was a Montana thing, she'd told him. And it was. Rain had the ability to calm her, more than anything else in the world. Well, anything else, other than Katy of course. Lindsay stopped walking and took a deep breath, looking around her. The streets were packed with people going about their daily business; mothers picking children up from school, business people dressed in their crisp suits, commuter-walking (as she'd always called it) back from meetings.

It was just over eight hours since Katy had gone missing. Four of those, Lindsay had spent fast asleep, but even then nightmares plagued her dreams. She was back in the diner in Montana, but by some weird twist, Katy was there too, being prized from her arms by one of her friends, right before the killing went down. Lindsay didn't want to leave her, but she went to the bathroom, deciding she was in safe hands. When she heard the gunshots, she rushed to the door, peeked out, and the first thing she saw was her daughter lying on the floor, eyes frozen wide, blood pouring out of her chest. Lindsay hadn't managed to wake herself up, but thankfully the nightmare had faded.

She felt tears well in her eyes just thinking about the dream, but brushed them away angrily, and started to walk back to the lab.

-

"I'm very sorry to hear about this little girl going missing," Karen Risso said quietly, pushing the photograph of Katy back across the table, "but I don't understand what it has to do with me."

"She remind you of anyone?" Flack asked, pushing the photograph back.

"Well…I suppose… she does… a little like Maddie," a lump was audible in Karen's voice as she looked up from the picture, to look Flack in the eye.

"Yes, she does, doesn't she? Funny that."

Karen looked over at Hawkes and frowned, "what is he implying?"

"Ms. Risso, the climbing kit in your motel room… there's a possibility that it was used to break into Katy Monroe's bedroom and snatch her. We're testing it in the lab. Can you tell me what you were doing between 4 and 7 this morning?"

"What?! Do you really… God. I'd never do something like this. I know how much it hurts to lose a child… I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Let alone someone I've never met," she looked pleadingly at Hawkes, "you gotta believe me. I didn't do this. I don't even know how you can… _think_ I would."

"Can you answer the question please Ms. Risso," Flack persisted.

"Of course. I was in bed! I got up at around half 6 and had a shower. And no, there was no one in there to prove my whereabouts. I've been staying at that motel for near six weeks… it's my routine. I do it every morning," she shook her head, a single tear rolling off her cheek.

"Is the climbing equipment yours?"

She nodded, "my husband and I… before Maddie… we used to climb. It was a hobby. I left my stuff at the house… but I wanted to take it back up. Y'know, keep myself busy. I bought a whole new kit."

"Your husband… he hasn't stopped by the motel at all?" asked Flack.

"No. He doesn't know where I am."

"And do you know his shoe size?"

She frowned, "uh yeah… an 11 or 12. Why?"

"Thanks for your help Ms. Risso. That's enough for now. An officer will show you out."

"So I'm not under arrest?" she asked, again.

"No."

-

After he'd finished talking to Stella and Mac, alone, Danny went to find Lindsay. As he went to the front entrance to check outside, she came in, absolutely drenched from the downpour outside. He gave her a sad smile and pulled her close, resting his chin on her head, smelling her damp hair. It had become routine. It calmed him down in the same way Katy calmed her. He leant down and kissed her softly.

"Where'd you go?"

"Outside," she whispered, snuggling up against his chest.

"Just for a walk?" Danny turned her round in his arms and looked into her sad, dark eyes. They hadn't been that filled with hurt since everything with Rikki had happened. He hated seeing it in her.

"Yeah. Clear my head."

"Feeling better?" he asked, rubbing a drip of rain water off her forehead with the pad of his thumb.

"A little. I just…" she sighed, "where is she Danny? I can't think of anyone who'd _know_ to do this. You know what I mean? And I keep thinking about what we could have done differently…"

"I know, I know," he kissed her again, "I feel the same way. It's eatin' up my insides. But it ain't helping find her Linds."

"I know," she whispered, the sound muffled as she buried her face in his shirt.

-

"Right, what do we know?" Mac asked, standing in the main lab with a cup of coffee in one hand, a board pen in the other.

"Katy was last seen by Lin-- by her parents at roughly 4am. When they checked in on her at 7:30, she was gone," Hawkes said, grabbing himself a donut from the plate in the middle of the table.

"We have a size 12 shoe print on a teddy, a drop of unknown, male blood on a curtain, a fibre from a very common type of rope, and an open window, as well as shoe scuffs right outside the window. We're pretty convinced our snatcher got in through that window," Stella added, before biting into an apple, "we can't trace the rope because too many places have it. The rope we found in Karen Risso's climb bag was brand new, and hadn't even been unknotted from its original packaging. That and her shoe size, eliminates her."

Placing his donut down, with a large bite out of it, Hawkes nodded, "and we're trying to get in contact with the husband, but he lives across town and had no access to the phone card to be the one who made the phone call."

"Flack is looking into the other three occupants at the motel closest to the phone booth, but the voice on the phone call was male, and only two men live on the block – a Ben Hunter and a Taylor Newsom. Neither of which we've managed to track down."

Mac nodded, placing the lid back on the pen, and putting it in its holder. He looked at the board for a second.

"What else about the phone call? What did they ask for?"

"Well that's the thing," Stella started.

"They didn't ask for anything," finished Hawkes.

Mac frowned, "why kidnap someone, phone up, and then not ask for a ransom?"

"All the snatcher wanted was to tell them that he had their child. To… gloat maybe?"

"What exactly did he say?" Mac asked, picking up the pen again.

"His exact words? 'An eye, for an eye.' Repeated several times…" she glanced down at her notes, "12 to be exact. Then he hung up. We're lucky we managed to trace him at all."

"An eye for an eye," Mac repeated.

"What you thinking?"

"Well, that sounds like our snatcher believes Lindsay and/or Danny took something of his. I think we need to look again at their case files," he said, finishing writing up the phrase on the board.

-


	5. Chapter 5

When Lindsay re-entered the break room, some hour and a half later, she found Stella pouring herself a fresh mug of coffee

**A/N: **Next bit guys! I estimate probably about 3 or 4 more chapters so we're sort of just over half-way through. Thanks so much for reading. Sorry it's such a slow moving story.

**Disclaimer: **What? I still don't own anything? Who knew?

-

When Lindsay re-entered the break room, some hour and a half later, she found Stella pouring herself a fresh mug of coffee. Her wild curls were tamed back into a ponytail and her eyes were dark with exhaustion and an unsaid sadness. Lindsay swallowed. She hadn't thought about the effect this case would be having on her friends. Stella was, after all, Katy's godmother. It made sense she'd be just as worried as she and Danny were.

"Hey," Lindsay said, making her self known in the small break room, closing the door softly behind her.

"Oh, hi. I'm just taking a break… I figured tired eyes were of no use."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Lindsay sat down heavily at the table, rubbing her eyes, "you should get some rest."

"I could say the same thing to you," she replied, with a soft smile, taking Lindsay's mug down from the shelf and silently pouring her some coffee too. She handed it to her without a word, and Lindsay smiled gratefully, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

Lindsay took a sip of the coffee, letting the hot liquid burn her throat, almost as if to prove to herself that she was still alive, that she could still feel. She didn't feel alive. She felt like everything was moving around her so fast, everything a blur, whilst she was stuck in slow motion. Helpless.

"We've cleared all but one person in the motel block closest to the payphone," Stella said after a long moment.

"I thought you couldn't discuss the case with me?"

"Ben Hunter was out grocery shopping at noon with Karen Risso; CCTV backs him up, so he couldn't have made the phone call. Risso's husband was on a business trip to Tokyo, so that eliminates him too," she continued, ignoring Lindsay's question, "we've not managed to track down Taylor Newsom yet. Does the name ring a bell?"

Lindsay considered, before slowly shaking her head, "no. But you know what it's like; we deal with a lot of people on this job Stell."

Nodding, Stella sighed.

"I wish we didn't have to drag you guys into this," Lindsay said, her voice just above a whisper. Tears visibly gathered in her eyes again, and Stella pulled her into a hug before they could fall.

"No one's blaming you Lindsay. This isn't your fault. We will find Katy, I promise you," she said, rubbing soothing circles into the younger woman's back.

"I know."

She only wished she believed it.

-

Unable to track down Taylor Newsom, Flack had got a warrant to search his motel room, and was now waiting outside with Detective Angell as Mac and his team got started. Apart from a pile of dirty clothes on the floor, the room was pretty clean, considering its occupant was a single male. Flack's own apartment certainly wasn't as tidy.

"You okay?" Angell asked after a moment.

"Yeah, why?"

She smiled, "you weren't listening to a word I said were you?"

_She was speaking? _He thought, trying to stop the look of confusion that was threatening to cloud his features.

"Never mind, it wasn't important," she smiled again, touching his had gently, "I know how close you and Danny are. I know this must be weird for you."

"Katy was my goddaughter," he said, shaking his head.

"Is, Don. She _is_ your goddaughter."

"Yeah."

Their conversation was interrupted as Mac approached from inside the motel room. He looked as grim as ever, and carried a plastic bag with a toothbrush in it. _For DNA, _Flack guessed.

"Nothing out of the ordinary in there… the other occupants do say he hasn't been around all day though. Nothing seems to be missing from his closets, so he doesn't seem to have gone too far. I'll see if I can get a match off the DNA from this toothbrush to the blood on the curtain," he left as quickly as he'd approached, getting into his Tahoe.

"I guess this case has rattled everyone's cages," Angell said softly, entwining her fingers with Flack's.

He'd usually pull away, not a huge fan of public displays of affection, but today he needed all the comfort he could get.

-

All the aimless wandering Danny was doing wasn't helping the anger that rose up inside of him. He felt like he was going to self-combust. Lindsay was upset. That wasn't surprising; it was how he should feel too, wasn't it? But he didn't. He'd done the shock, the blaming himself, the fear. Now all he could do was be angry. How did someone get away with ripping a family apart like this, and why hadn't they found him yet? He knew he shouldn't blame his friends and colleagues; they were doing everything they could. But he didn't want to blame himself anymore, and if he didn't, then who was there to blame? _The son of a bitch that did this_, he thought, coldly. As he was walking back into the building he saw Lindsay coming out of the break room, and went over to her.

"Danny?" she whispered, taking his hands in hers. His were shaking and the fire in his eyes told her something was wrong.

"I'm fine," he muttered, pulling his hands out of her reach.

"They only have one suspect left. They want to know if we know some guy called Taylor Newsom? Stell says their testing his DNA against the blood they found. Do you know this guy?"

Danny shook his head, "never heard of him."

"Danny," she said, the fear still audible in her voice, slowly melting the anger from Danny's heart as he realized that yelling or violence wasn't going to help anyone, "my parents never got to meet her. They've not even seen her. I mean, I sent photographs, but I don't think they looked at them. They never said they did… Danny what if they never get to see her?"

Her voice trembled, and her brown eyes were wide. She reminded him more of Katy in that instance than she ever had. He enveloped her in a hug, hoping that by the time he let go, everything would be okay.

"They made the choice not to see her, not to come to her christening. They'll have plenty of opportunity to see her once we get her back," he said, his voice gruff, the stubble on his chin brushing against Lindsay's ear. He felt her nod against his chest, before the tears flooded again.

He didn't know how she could still have tears to shed.

-

They'd finally tracked Taylor Newsom down. He wasn't best pleased at finding out that his motel room had been turned upside down, but agreed to talk to Mac in the lab. Now he was sat at a table in a glass room, a Styrofoam cup of tea in front of him, his dark eyes focussing on anything and everything bar the face of the detective opposite him. Mac thought he looked guilty of something, but what it was, he wasn't quite sure.

"Mr. Newsom, we traced a phone call from the payphone outside your motel room, to a phone card belonging to you. The call is in connection to a missing two year old girl. Would you like to tell us about that?"

The man looked blank and shook his head. He hadn't asked for a lawyer, even after Mac had suggested he call one. The new evidence was pointing directly in his direction.

"I lost the phone card," he said after a moment, finally looking Mac in the eye, "the day I came to the motel… last Wednesday. I got a replacement two days after. That kid at the office wouldn't give me one 'til I filled out some forms. You ask him, he'll back me up."

"Do you have a family Mr. Newsom?" Mac asked, sitting back on his seat.

"A wife back in Seattle… listen, what's this about? You think I took the girl?"

Mac looked down at his notes and then back up at the man, who looked to be in his late 50s, early 60s, "got any children?"

"No. Look, I came to New York to look around… do some touristy things. Wanted to come here since I was a kid. And now you accuse me of snatching some poor person's child? I'm not your man Detective Taylor."

"In that case, you won't mind giving us your fingerprints. Our warrant covered the DNA we found on a toothbrush in your motel room; we're testing it now," Mac said, watching as Mr. Newsom shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Yeah sure. Prints. Whatever."

-

"Mac!" Adam yelled, bounding across the corridor, flapping a print out with results on it wildly, a huge grin spread on his face, "Mac the DNA results have come back!"

"Great Adam, what we got?"

"No exact match to Taylor Newsom."

Mac's face fell, "but?"

"But, the blood does belong to his _son._"

"His son?" he frowned, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, "Mr. Newsom claims to not have a son. I wonder how he's going to explain this one."

"Good luck," Adam said with a small smile, heading back to his lab.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **I apologize for such a short chapter, but I wanted to leave it where I did, and expected it to be longer!

**Disclaimer: **still own nothing…

"You told us you didn't have any children," Mac said, slamming the DNA results down on the table in front of Taylor Newsom. He remained calm and composed, looking the detective straight in the eye.

"What is this?" he asked, his voice steady, as he gave a cursory look at the sheet of paper.

"This is a print out of a DNA result. The blood we found at the crime scene? It's from your son. The son you told us you didn't have."

"Okay, okay," he shook his head, rubbed a hand over his face and returned his glare to Mac, "I have a son. Jesse. He's from a past relationship. Look, I didn't want to bring it up… I didn't think it was necessary. I never see the kid. And he doesn't live here. There's no reason his DNA would be here."

"But it is Mr. Newsom. Do you really think we're going to accept that it's a coincidence? His blood on a curtain in the room the child was snatched from, your payphone card used to make a call to the parents. If you're hiding something, we will find out,"

A fleck of fear flickered over Taylor Newsom's eyes, but was gone within a few seconds. He leant forward in his seat, "I'm not handing you my son over on a platter, detective."

"You tell us where he is, and where Katy is, we'll see if we can make a deal for him."

"Yeah right. I watch the news. I know the kid's the daughter of two of your officers. I know how these things work. Jesse will be mysteriously killed in one of your cells if I know your way."

Mac was struggling to keep his temper as he sat down opposite the older man. He searched Newsom's eyes, but they were blank, empty.

"Montana. He lives in Montana," Newsom finally said, "but that's it. Like I said, I'm not spoon feeding you your answers."

Suddenly everything seemed to make just that little bit more sense. Mac left the room, in search for Lindsay. Perhaps she knew Jesse Newsom. On his way out, he rang Flack so that he could try to track down the boy.

-

"I'm sorry Mac, I don't recognise the name," Lindsay said, shaking her head in dismay, "and you're sure this is the guy who has Katy?"

"Well it's his blood on the curtain in the nursery, so we're pretty certain."

She sighed, rubbing her eyes, fighting back tears all over again. As she did so, she felt Danny's arm wrap around her shoulders, squeezing gently. She turned to him and forced a smile. If the guy who did this came from Montana, chances were it was her fault. Whoever he was, she'd been the one to involve him in their family.

"We found a photograph of Jesse," Stella announced, snaking round the door to Mac's office before entering fully, "it was in a box in Newsom's motel room. He's confirmed it is his son."

She put the photograph down in front of Lindsay, who looked at it and frowned. The eyes _were_ familiar, weren't they? And she was sure she'd seen that smile somewhere before…

"…and it seems he was still lying saying the only child he had was Jesse. We found this alongside it. He won't tell us who she is, but she certainly looks like she could be Jesse's sister. Photo looks pretty old… she's just a kid," Stella continued, sliding the picture across the table.

The girl looked up at Lindsay with big green eyes, dark hair flowing over her shoulders, the same smile as her brother fixed to her soft, teenage skin. Without thinking, Lindsay traced her finger over the smile, a tear escaping, dripping down her face and landing on the photograph. She wiped it away, looking up at Stella and nodding.

"Kelly," she only managed one word, her voice weak and strained. She felt like she was going to choke. How could she have not recognised her best friend's brother?

"Kelly?" Mac repeated.

"Yeah. Kelly. But her last name wasn't Newsom… it was Britt. Kelly Britt."

Stella glanced at Mac, and then to Danny, who merely shrugged, confusion obvious from his eyes.

"You know this young woman?" she asked, slowly.

"Knew… she was my best friend… when I was… a teenager," she sobbed, looking up at Stella with tear-filled eyes, "she's one of the girls who died in the restaurant."

-

Enough was enough, Danny thought, as he pushed past Mac, ignoring his shouts, and went into the interview room. Without so much as a second hesitation, he grabbed Taylor Newsom by the collar and pushed him up against the wall. The anger he'd had bottled up within him, the anger that had been threatening to boil over all day, finally had an outlet.

"What's your real name buddy? Britt? Somethin' Britt is it?! You sat there and told them you didn't know me, didn't know my girlfriend. You know what? You're a fucking liar," he slammed the man hard against the wall, throwing a punch at his nose, "you tell me where my little girl is, or they'll be scraping pieces of you up off this floor for the next week."

"You… you don't understand. You might love her… but she's… she's the reason my daughter… my daughter's dead and it's all her fault! Don't you see?!" the man cried, blood pouring from his nose, tangling in his words.

"No, buddy, I don't see," Danny threw another punch, not noticing the door opening until security guards were on either side of him, dragging him away from Taylor Newsom, who had sunk to the floor, blood quickly staining through his shirt.

TBC.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm worried I rushed this a bit… but hopefully you guys won't think I did

**A/N: **I'm worried I rushed this a bit… but hopefully you guys won't think I did! I couldn't remember the exact details of what happened in the diner without putting my DVD on, and that DVD was conveniently misplaced, so I sorta had to make it up. Hopefully I got it roughly correct. We're almost there!

**Disclaimer: **Me? Own CSI? Nooo.

Stella was getting frustrated with the smugness of Taylor Newsom. She was beginning to wish they'd let Danny kick him into next week. For someone who had apparently been driven to kidnap a child because of the death of his own, he was surprisingly calm, and wasn't going to give up his son's whereabouts anytime soon. She sighed, going back into the interview room and sitting down opposite him.

"Right, Mr. Britt," she said, purposefully, "can you explain to us again you and your son's motive for snatching Katy Monroe?"

He didn't so much as flinch, and as he explained, his voice was monotone and emotionless, "Lindsay Monroe and my daughter were childhood friends. Kelly was going away for the summer, and Lindsay thought it would be nice for them to all go to their favorite diner… to say goodbye. I told Kelly not go… that she had packing left to do. But she wouldn't listen. Said that Lindsay wanted them all to be there, so she had to go. A man robbed the diner that night, shot my daughter, shot all her friends, but left Lindsay Monroe alive. It had been her idea to go, and she was the only one who got out alive."

"But that was near on 20 years ago," Stella said, still baffled as to why someone would leave it this long to get revenge.

"Jesse and his wife, Leigh, they've been trying to have a baby for 4 years but doctors don't think it's possible. He overheard Miss Monroe's parents talking about a grandchild… it was surprisingly easy to track their daughter down. Especially after we saw her at the trial. Hell, I followed her out of here myself and no one noticed. Lindsay Monroe took something of mine; I wanted to take something of hers. And Jesse got the child he'd always wanted. It was the perfect plan."

"We will get Katy back, Mr. Britt, and then you and your son will be in jail. Have you got any idea what Leigh's going to have to go through then?"

"Not going to happen Detective," he said, with a smile, "Jesse, Leigh, and the child… they're long gone. Your detectives can search as hard as they like, they won't find them."

There was something almost sickening about how easy this whole story was dripping off the man's lips, and the smile was the cherry on top of the cake. Stella was beginning to want to kill the man herself. She sighed, got up from the table and went to leave the room.

"And just so you know," she said, not bothering to look over her shoulder, "Lindsay has felt guilty about that day in the restaurant for the past 19 years. It plagues her dreams, and she's never quite forgiven herself for it."

"Good," he said, simply.

Stella left the room before the urge to punch him became too strong.

-

"We've got half of NYPD looking for this guy, we will find him," Flack said, trying to reassure Lindsay.

It was a few hours since Taylor Newsom – who they now knew to be Michael Britt – had made his confession. The night had quickly bled into the morning and now it was nearly 5. Mac had persuaded Lindsay and Danny to go home, but their apartment felt empty, lifeless. Flack had gone over to keep them company, and keep them up to date on the case. Now they sat in the living room, Lindsay with her legs curled under herself on the couch, Don in an armchair opposite. Danny had gone out to stretch his legs, and they both really hoped that was all he was doing.

"You should go home… sleep," Lindsay said, resting her head heavily on the arm of the couch, looking at Flack out of one eye.

"Are you gonna sleep?"

She went to say yes, but thought better of lying and shook her head.

"Well then. I'd rather be here, looking after you two. Sleep can wait."

"Okay," she sat up, rubbed her eyes, "you want some coffee?"

"Yeah that'd be nice."

-

**Three Weeks Later**

Lindsay lay in bed, alone and wide awake. It was around 3, and she hadn't had a wink of sleep. She was used to spending the nights alone. Danny put everything into work, coming home in the early morning, if he came home at all, sleeping on the couch. Lindsay couldn't face work. Mac had told her to take as long as she needed, which probably wasn't a good idea, because she was beginning to think she'd never go back. She felt as if her finger was inches away from her self destruct button. Most days she didn't bother getting dressed, stayed in her pyjamas, hardly eating, watching junk on TV, sometimes sleeping. She didn't like going out. Katy's face was still on the front of newspapers, and the pitying looks people gave her when they realized who she was, made Lindsay feel sick.

She longed for the old days. When Danny and she could laugh, flirt, make meaningless conversation, without a care in the world. Things were different now. Their relationship was hard… maybe even strained at times. Nothing had been easy or simple since Rikki had happened, especially after Lindsay found herself pregnant. They'd had to grow up. Katy had made them happy, but Lindsay knew that would crumble away without the little girl's presence. It had already started happening. The chances of getting their daughter back were getting slimmer and slimmer, and Lindsay didn't think there was any point in getting on with her life without her.

Danny still wasn't home, not that she particularly expected him to be.

There was a knock at the front door and Lindsay contemplated ignoring it. Who came by at 3am anyway? Maybe Danny had left his keys behind.

She slipped out of bed, pulled a t-shirt on over her underwear (all her pyjamas were dirty so she'd taken to not bothering) and went to the door. The thumping was more consistent now and she was almost sure it was Danny. Definitely the sound of an NYPD officer. She checked the peephole, and sure enough it was him. Sighing, she opened the door and was about to turn and go back into the bedroom, expecting that he wouldn't bother to so much as say a word to her, knowing his mood lately, when she realized there were tears in his eyes. He looked like a lost child, and she could do nothing but wrap her arms around him and hold him, the door closing behind him with a soft click.

"It's ok," she murmured, resting her head on his chest, which was shaking with the force of his crying.

"It just… it just suddenly hit me," he said, between sobs, "that she's gone. She's really gone. And I don't think she's coming back."

That was enough for her to break down too, and for a while they just stood there, holding each other whilst they cried.

That night, for the first time in a long time, they made love. It was unlike anything that had ever happened between them before, but both knew it was what they needed.

-

Lindsay woke to find her head cushioned by Danny's chest. He'd stayed. She didn't think he would, given the circumstances, but she was so glad he had. They hadn't been this close in a while, and she'd missed his warmth. She knew if there was any way they were going to get through this, it was together. Pressing a kiss to the center of his chest, she closed her eyes and readied herself to go back to sleep.

"You awake?" he asked, lifting a hand to her head, stroking her hair.

"Mmm. Barely."

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice low, lips against her ear.

She looked up, "sorry? For what?"

"Shutting you out, ignoring you… actin' like you didn't know what I was going through. Like you weren't going through the same thing."

"It's okay," she sighed, "we will get her back Danny. I know in my heart that we will. Our little girl is still out there, and she's coming home. We just have to wait for her."

And with that she drifted back to sleep.

-

TBC.


	8. Chapter 8

She laughed, shaking her head at him, "yeah, as if

**A/N: **Nearly done, I promise! Thanks for the reviews and everything. It does make me smile to see that people are still reading and enjoying this! Also, I know absolutely nothing about Phoenix, so I hope my description is ok haha… I tried to research and it didn't really work!

**Disclaimer: **still own nothing…

-

_She laughed, shaking her head at him, "yeah, as if. Knowing you, you'll want to name it 'Boom'… or after some baseball player. And I am not naming my child after the state either."_

"_Boom?" he replied with a chuckle, placing his hand lightly on her belly and gazing down at it, "you like that huh bump? Boom?"_

_Laughing again, she playfully punched him the arm and he leant down, kissed her lips softly, and placed another light kiss on her bump, pulling her closer to him._

_-_

Danny lay in bed watching Lindsay sleep. It was the first night that she'd been peaceful in a long time, and he knew that in the morning she'd put it down to him being there. He liked to hope that he did make her feel safe. Not that it had done their child any good; when it came down to it, he hadn't been able to protect her at all. She'd been snatched from right underneath their eyes, and as much as Lindsay blamed herself, Danny knew it was him who should have been keeping them safe, not her.

He was about to make an attempt to get back to sleep when the apartment phone rang. Work had been the only people to ring lately, since Mac had had their phone fixed up so that journalists wouldn't call, but it was usually his cell that rang, not the landline. Sliding out of bed, he went over to the phone, hoping it wouldn't wake Lindsay, and picked up. As he glanced at caller ID, he saw Stella's number. _Well that's odd._

"Hey Stell, what's up?"

"_Danny? We need you to come in…you and Lindsay."_

He froze. He knew from past experience on the other end of a case like this that when you got asked to go down to the station, it usually wasn't good news. He swallowed hard, leant against the wall for support and finally answered, "okay, we'll be there."

"_Danny?"_ Stella repeated, a hint of concern in her voice, _"it's not bad news."_

_Just tell me what it is,_ he thought, but instead answered with a simple 'okay' before hanging up.

After a short moment, he went over to the bed, with the intentions of waking Lindsay up, but when he saw how peaceful she looked, and thought about how much hurt had been visible in her face and audible in her voice for the past almost-month, he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. Pulling on some clothes, he sat down on the side of the bed and watched her. He knew she'd be angrier with him if he didn't wake her, and gave in, moving over to her side of the bed, and kissing her forehead.

"Come on sleepy head," he whispered, kissing her again.

She slowly woke and looked up at him with bleary eyes, "what time is it?"

"Around six," he replied, helping her sit up.

"Why…"

"Stella called. We have to go into the lab."

A look of realization flashed in Lindsay's eyes, and tears started to well up in the corners. She searched his face for more information, but finally realized that he knew no more than she did. As she leant forward, a tear dropped down her face and she soon found herself enveloped in his arms, sobbing once again. She felt so weak and stupid. Wiping her eyes on the back of her hand, Lindsay got herself up and out of bed, grabbed some clothes, and quickly got dressed. For a second she didn't care what the news was, if it was news at all. She needed to get out of the house.

"Ready?" Danny asked her, a few minutes later when she'd run a brush through her hair and put on a tiny amount of make-up (which was a lot, considering she hadn't bothered with it for three weeks).

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath and slipping her hand into his.

-

_**Phoenix, AZ**_

_It was a typical day in Phoenix; hot and crimeless. Just how the police department liked it. Most of all, Detective David O'Connor who perched himself on the wall outside a grocery store and rummaged through his pockets for a lighter, a cigarette already at his lips, "Yo, Fitch, got a light mate?"_

"_You know I don't smoke. Not good for the kids, the wife says. Maybe that's why you're so out of luck with the ladies," replied his partner, Nick Finch, with one of his typical smirks. _

"_Ever thought that I enjoy flying solo?" he replied, with a playful glare._

"_There's enjoyin', and then there's not getting laid for nigh-on fifteen years,"_

_O'Connor rolled his eyes, "oh yeah? How'd you know I've not been getting it on with your momma?"_

"_Mostly cos my momma's been dead for 5 years," Finch chuckled._

_Still laughing, O'Connor jumped down from the wall and went across the street to where a woman was loading a small child into her SUV, along with several shopping bags. She looked flustered, and judging by her car's plates, she wasn't from the area. He guessed the heat was doing her head in; it wasn't everyone's taste._

"_Excuse me ma'am?"_

_Her head snapped round to face him and she forced a smile, "yes officer?"_

"_Do you have a light?" he asked, gesturing for the cigarette. He was almost sure the smile on her face faltered for a second, but thought nothing of it._

"_Sure," sifting through her purse, she finally produced a lighter and handed it to him, "my husband smokes. Do you mind if I close the car door? I don't want my daughter inhaling smoke."_

_He nodded and she closed the door, he lit his cigarette, and walked away._

"_Hey, wanting a smoke my ass. You just wanted to check her out," Finch exclaimed, as O'Connor came back, puffing on his cigarette._

"_Yeah right. Mmm married women with kids really turn me on… but with a rack like that I wouldn't say no," he replied, with a smirk._

"_Wait…" Finch got off the wall and started to head for the woman, speeding his pace as he realized she was about to drive off._

"_Now who's checkin' her out?!" O'Connor called out behind him._

_Finch got to the car just in time, banging on the driver's door until she unwound the window._

"_Two cops in as many minutes? Aren't I the lucky girl," the woman said, but her expression wasn't anywhere near as cocky._

"_Please step out of the vehicle ma'am," _

"_Excuse me?" she frowned._

"_You heard me."_

_-_

In Mac's office, Lindsay sat, twisting her hands nervously in her lap. Across from her, Mac's empty seat spun ever-so-slightly in the light draft created by his desk fan. To the side of her, Danny's posture mirrored her own. He reached out for her hand and entwined their fingers, and she cast him a grateful smile.

When Mac entered, he was joined by Stella, and a woman neither Lindsay nor Danny recognised. She smiled at them before taking a seat on a spare chair beside Mac's desk, Mac stopping his chair from swivelling, Stella perching on the desk. For a moment – that seemed like an eternity to Lindsay – they all remained silent.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here, and who I am," the woman, who had long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a surprisingly soft voice for someone with such a hard-looking face, began to speak first, leaning on the desk, "my name is Special Agent Rebecca Edwards. I work for the FBI, in the missing people's unit. We were happy to hand your daughter's case over to the CSIs and NYPD, but we've been… watching from afar if you like."

"Okay," Danny said slowly, "what has this got to do with anything? If you don't mind me asking."

Stella cleared her throat, a welcome interruption, "they've found Katy."

Lindsay felt 100 emotions wash over her all at once, tears streaming off her face as she clutched to Danny, for a moment forgetting that anyone else was in the room. She didn't know what to say. A part of her had given up on ever finding their daughter, even if she had only been missing for less than a month. Statistics showed if a child wasn't found in the first 48 hours after a kidnapping, they were likely to never be found at all.

"Wait, wait," Danny said, letting go of her and returning his attention to Stella, "is she okay? I'm guessin' she's okay, cos you wouldn't be sittin' there smilin' at me like the cast of Sesame Street if she wasn't."

"She's at the hospital," Mac stated, carefully, noting Lindsay's gasp at this piece of news, her face paling.

"She was involved in a road accident, but she's going to be okay," Stella added, finally showing the beaming smile she'd obviously been struggling to keep down, "she's okay… your daughter's okay."

The next ten minutes were a blur. Special Agent Edwards spoke to them about what to expect, but it was all stuff they'd heard a hundred times before, some of it stuff they'd _told_ people before, and it went in one ear and out the other. And then finally they were allowed to go to the hospital, Stella offering to take them over there herself.

As they were about to get out of the car, Lindsay rested her head on Danny's shoulder and whispered, "what if she doesn't remember who we are?"

"She'll remember," Danny whispered back, kissing her temple.

-

They went into the hospital and waited for the doctors to check on Katy one last time, before letting them go in. Stella told them she'd wait outside, that it was more important that they saw her than that she did.

Lindsay pushed open the door to the private room Katy had been allocated, and felt a breath catch in her throat. Tears in her eyes, she looked at Danny with a panic-ridden face, "Danny… that's not Katy."


End file.
